Dancing Queens
by RenaRoo
Summary: When Cassandra neglects to take time off, the Birds come to town.


the-owlknight prompted: Cass Prompt: The Birds of Prey take Cass out dancing and having fun!

Birds of Prey and related properties © DC Comics  
story © RenaRoo

 **Dancing Queens**

If she hadn't slept until two, Cassandra would have been allowed to call the meal a brunch. Alfred had made that clear when she rolled out of bed and grumpily quested downstairs for her first meal of the day.

How much Cass did or didn't care for the exact terms were moot when the butler was involved so she simply spooned cereal sourly in her mouth and yawned exaggeratedly as she waited for Alfred to wander off and do his own thing on the other side of the Manor.

Cass tried to recall in detail what she had done until six thirty in the morning on the previous patrol, but found herself unmotivated even for that much effort. Doing so required completely ignoring the loud and obnoxious ringing of the front doorbell.

When she worked in another spoonful of cereal, Cass was not expecting her entire table to shake, the milk leaping from her bowl, as hightop sneakers appeared on the table suddenly in a loud poof of smoke.

It was only Cass' heightened skills that made her fast enough to grab the rest of the bowl of cereal before its contents spilled out.

"You're here!" a freckled redhead squeaked in delight as she stood over Cass. "I knew you would be – I mean, everyone else said you were, too! But I was right! Just because other people were right doesn't make me any less right!"

Wide awake and blinking ,Cass turned her head to better look at the girl. "Misfit?"

"Shh!" the other girl stage whispered before bouncing off in another cloud of smoke. She reappeared again behind Cass. "We're not in costume. Call me Charlie!"

At that point just confused, Cassandra looked to her bowl then back to Charlie. "I'm… _eating."_

The young hero wore a wide, mischievous grin and tilted her head. "Not for long…"

Cass' brows knit together just before the kitchen door was kicked open and on the other side stood Black Canary and Huntress in beautiful civiliant clothes and thick sunglasses.

Cassandra turned her confused gaze to them. "What…?"

"Sorry, Cassie," Dinah said, voice full of amusement.

Helena tilted down her shades. "But not sorry. You're coming with us."

Cassandra blinked. "Now?"

" _Right_ now!" Charlie cheered.

"After you change," Dinah elaborated as Helena pointed to the bag over Dinah's shoulder. "Oracle picked out an outfit for you and everything."

Words escaped Cass before the other women were upon her. It was a blur of clothes changing, talking a mile a minute, and Alfred's unapologetic and _knowing_ look as he waved them out the door before Cass was shoved into the back of a van with Zinda at the helm.

She wasn't even surprised when she saw Babs sitting beside her.

Cass folded her arms. " _Why,"_ she said more than she asked.

"Because I can," Babs said with a smirk before handing Cass a matching pair of the sunglasses they were all wearing.

* * *

There was a certain amount of alcohol that didn't seem to even phase Zinda, and her stories of wild adventures working at Guy Gardner's were quite a trip. But most everyone else seemed excited by darts and pool and a certain amount of hilarious banter shared with far off worse patrons than themselves.

Cass, on the other hand, found herself rather content with a glass of water and a seat at table with Barbara.

Her mentor had a light beverage but far from rolling in the limelight with the fellow Birds, Barbara was sitting out in everything but a single game of pool.

"You'd be good at darts," Babs said encouragingly. "You could give our reigning champion a run for her money. It might be worth it just for seeing the look on Helena's face."

"I don't like… _this,"_ Cass said with an emphatic wave around the bar, "stuff." She pouted and sighed, trying to ignore the abruptness of her own outburst.

To her surprise, Barbara just laughed.

"Oh, and I'm just the party girl, as we all know," she said with some bite before reaching up and clearing her glasses. "You realize this isn't _just_ about pulling you out of your favorite deep, dark holes you like to crawl in, right?"

Cass tilted her head at that. "It's… _not?"_

 _"_ Nope," Barbara smiled around her straw. She then leaned forward. "I wasn't joking before. This is a regular outing forced upon _me._ Apparently my friends like to dig me out of _my_ deep, dark hole, too."

Groaning, Cass laid her head on the table. "Then _why?"_

 _"_ Because I wanted the company," Barbara shrugged. "Because I miss spending more time with you. And because…" she looked at their friends. "No one invited me to party like this with friends when I was younger. I don't think I would have liked it more then, but at least I would have known what it was." She looked at Cass with a small smile. "And that's what I want for you now."

Cass sipped on her water but managed a nod.

She _did_ understand a bit.

* * *

When she really thought about it, Blüdhaven was not that long ago.

It hadn't been that long since making friends and block parties and declaring _her city_ with enthusiasm and understanding for the sentiment she had never truly had before.

And when she remembered these things, no matter how difficult, it wasn't hard to see the virtue in a little fun, in a little living, in a little _dancing._

These were, after all, the things that truly made the fight worth fighting to begin with.

Barbara smiled as Cass put down her water and made her way to the hoots and hollers of the rest of the Birds.

Cass had only danced at a party once before, but with her friends she could open herself up to dancing again.

And with the supportive shouts and woos of Barbara's Birds, that's exactly what Cassandra did.


End file.
